Magic: The Gathering

[fatsnorlax]

Loxodon Smiter has been announced, and I think he'll be going places. He's a virtual roadblock for aggro decks that will frequently come out T2. I think Frites will be a force to reckoned with, as what might become the default 2 mana removal hits little dudes and it now has good ways to stop aggro decks not named Elesh Norne.

Envisioned Frites

Lands
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
4 Blood Crypt
4 Rootbound Crag
3 Steam Vents
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Arbor Elf
3 Griselbrand
2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
3 Thragtusk
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
Other Spells
4 Faithless Looting
4 Unburial Rights
4 Grisly Scavenge
4 Lingering Souls
3 Abrupt Decay
Sideboard
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Dreadbore
2 Restoration Angel
3 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Loxodon Smiter
2 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Stormtide Leviathan
1 Thragtusk

Loxodon Smiter

Return to Ravnica is shaping up to be awesome... so many competitive cards.. I'll probably feel like I've pulled a good card a lot more in this set than in the Innistrad Block. I've seen less than a third of the set, and I'm already sold(:

EDIT: Only opponents can make discard): No mainboard Frites for Loxy. Still cool though.

 

[TEA_DEMON]

the problem with frites is dryad militant / selesnya charm existing. add those to cage and i am skeptical of it being good (unless rtr has shenanigans for frites too i suppose).

 

[danilo]

i still want more good blue cards...

Are you mentally retarded? Legitimate question, I've always wondered if people who blatantly ignore history like you have problems or just have wild imaginations.

In case you aren't aware, there was an almost 2-year span where blue was actually unplayable in standard as recent as 2009-2010. After Cryptic Command rotated out to the point where Jace the Mind Sculptor was printed, there was literally zero incentive to play blue and instead everyone just spun the cascade wheel and bashed their bloodbraid elves, sprouting thrinax, and other random shitty jund-colored creatures against each other. I bet feeble-minded mouthbreathers like yourself would have loved that metagame.

Idk why you're flipping the fuck out lol. 1994-2004. Blue was the best color. I played in the Jund era of magic. calm down. Right be4 mirrodin was what i was talking about

 

[fatsnorlax]

the problem with frites is dryad militant / selesnya charm existing. add those to cage and i am skeptical of it being good (unless rtr has shenanigans for frites too i suppose).

Selysnya Charm is a decent enough worry, but if cage gets good and militant runs ramapant, I suppose you could mainboard Abrupt Decay. Resto Angel could be sideboard vs. Selysnya Charm.

 

[fatsnorlax]

Control. Finisher. (:

 

[Tobes]

Dear fucking lord

That thing could be dropped on turn fucking three by Golgari with Farseek. Good thing there's going to be so much spot removal to use against it.

 

[fatsnorlax]

@ Tobes: Yep... the thing is a beast.

Anyway, with all the talk of Jund dominating standard, I decided I'd try and whip up the best Jund list I could. To do so, I turned to the Jund of old for reference.

Old School Jund

Lands
2 Dragonskull Summit
4 Forest
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Mountain
4 Raging Ravine
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Broodmate Dragon
4 Putrid Leech
3 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax
Other
4 Blightning
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Rampant Growth
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
Sideboard
4 Deathmark
4 Great Sable Stag
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Pithing Needle
2 Terminate

Jund was a machine of efficiency, a large cohesive mass of advantage that took over the game in seconds. I decided I'd try to mimic that.

My List

Lands
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Blood Crypt
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Woodland Cemetary
2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
Creatures
1 Bloodgift Demon
2 Thragtusk
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Dreg Mangler
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Restoration Angel
2 Strangleroot Geist
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
1 Desecrator Demon
Other
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Vraska, the Unseen
3 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Tragic Slip
Sideboard
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pillar of Flame
4 Rakdos's Return
3 Dreadbore
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Dryad Militant

The early game plan is to drop a mana dork and accelerate in Dreg Mangler. If that doesn't work, I have Strangleroot Geist and removal. Huntmaster is the attempt at replacing Bloodbraid Elf, as it generated a ton of advantage. Thragtusk, Thundermaw Hellkite, and Bloodgift Demon are all at the upper curve, sustaining a good late game. Garruk will activate morbid and produce chump blockers while Vraska either acts as a Vindicate or a lure. Bonfire cleans the board, and will knock out a foe's life total. It's a but random with Miracle and all, bit it will give me a huge advantage.

 

[Mr. Munchlax]

My List

Lands
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Blood Crypt
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Woodland Cemetary
2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
Creatures
1 Bloodgift Demon
2 Thragtusk
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Dreg Mangler
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Restoration Angel
2 Strangleroot Geist
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
1 Desecrator Demon
Other
4 Sudden Decay
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Vraska, the Unseen
3 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Tragic Slip
Sideboard
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pillar of Flame
4 Rakdos's Return
3 Dreadbore
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Dryad Militant

A very solid list, but spoilers are still young. Also, only four Sudden Decay? You need to have at LEAST five of that.

 

[fatsnorlax]

A very solid list, but spoilers are still young. Also, only four Sudden Decay? You need to have at LEAST five of that.

You need 6(;

That being said, although spoilers are young, this seems to be a very "full" list. Unless something really good gets spoiled (come on BoP), this seems quite solid. Then again, we've only seen a third of what might become the best set ever(:

 

[Mr. Munchlax]

You need 6(;

I said at LEAST....Anyway can't wait to see what will be spoiled tonight.

 

[fatsnorlax]

I can't wait either. I hope it comes close to the bar PAX and Week 1 set.

 

[Mr. Munchlax]

I can't wait either. I hope it comes close to the bar PAX and Week 1 set.

MOAR GUILD LEADERS PLZ!!!

 

[fatsnorlax]

That.. and some other cool stuff. I wanna see Remand, just because I want it to look like there's some incentive to them printing all of the counter-hate. They can't hate Blue that badly can they?

 

[TEA_DEMON]

well trostani was spoiled and she seems pretty good. some other interesting cards as well, especially the izzet 1-drop.

 

[Forte.EXE]

Got my two Izzet vs. Golgari decks on Saturday. Such a shame that Duel Decks don't count as reprints. I would have enjoyed using Dredge in Modern for a while.

In the meantime, until RtR drops, I made a Mono-Green deck out of stuff I still had lying around. I'm trying to avoid buying anything that will rotate out soon (Dungrove Elder, any of the Titans). Other than that, feel free to suggest stuff.

Mono-Green

Lands
22 Forest
Creatures
4 Arbor Elf
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Deadly Recluse
2 Elvish Visionary
2 Strangleroot Geist
1 Predator Ooze
2 Yeva, Nature's Herald
2 Acidic Slime
2 Thragtusk
1 Vorapede
2 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Soul of the Harvest
Other
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Prey Upon
4 Rancor

 

[Mr. Munchlax]

New spoilers in...whoa is all I'm gonna say. First off we have an experiment gone wrong and Izzet's overpowered entry to the one-drop cycle. Presenting:

Niv-magus Elemental

Next up, the voice of the prophet Selesnya and the guild leader for the G/W guild:

Trostani, Selesnya's voice

Rakdos guildmage:

Rix Maadi Guildmage

The first good card with unleash:

Chaos Imps

And finally, an Enchantment that will leave your head hurting (and your wallet at the ready):

Underworld Connections

Translation:
Enchant Land

Enchanted Land has tap:“, Pay 1 life: Draw a card”

“If you need it, it’s available. The question is: how much are you willing to pay?”

Overall reaction (specifically to Underworld Connections and the Elemental):

 

[Forte.EXE]

The first good card with Unleash? Hardly. Unleash would have been good if it came with built-in Haste. I'd use it Draft and maybe Limited. Other than that, in the shoebox it goes.

Underworld Connections is nice, I guess.

Rakdos Guildmage is meh. Would have preferred his first ability to be tagged with X so I could reduce blockers by -X/-X, but it's alright as it is.

Trostani speeds up life gain. I don't like life gain itself because gaining life won't win you the game alone but it's a good card. Tap her to populate, wink-wink.

NivMagus only seems useful against U or whatever other decks commonly run counter spells. Other than that, wasting a spell just for a boost isn't that appealing to me.

 

[TEA_DEMON]

uhh chaos imps is terrible???

i am really digging underworld connections, and trostani seems pretty good as well.

 

[fatsnorlax]

Connections is good and Trostani might see a bit of play. Nivmagus Elemental is cool... just limit yourself with the spells... Lingering Souls exists. I don't know about Imps.... it just needs a couple swings to kill. However, it doesn't give any immediate advantage and can't block, which would help if someone decided to run it as a control finisher. I dunno... I'm used to titans in the six slot... I suppose I'll have to get used to no titans.

 

[Mr. Munchlax]

uhh chaos imps is terrible???
.

I said good card with unleash. I didn't say it was a good card, but by unleash's standards, it is. That is for you too, forte.E.X.E.

 

[fatsnorlax]

I said good card with unleash. I didn't say it was a good card, but by unleash's standards, it is. That is for you too, forte.E.X.E.

I still would love a pseudo Goblin Guide with unleash. We could use some flavor too.

Caged Devil R/B

Unleash

Caged Devil can't attack unless it has a +1/+1 counter. If caged devil has a +1/+1 counter, it has Haste.

[1/1]

 

[TEA_DEMON]

I said good card with unleash. I didn't say it was a good card, but by unleash's standards, it is. That is for you too, forte.E.X.E.

way to contradict yourself bro

spoilers are still excellent. faerie imposter is a sweet cube card and is good for 187 decks in general, it would be interesting to play it with pod but alas. big dumb trampler is probably the second best rakdos card spoiled behind dreadbore (which is kinda sad but w/e). growing ranks might be silly depending on token generation, which so far is basically selesnya charm+lingering souls, but even then it's about on par with awakening zone imo. jarad's orders is interesting but the bg instant filter thing is probably just better. cyclonic rift is predictable but pretty good regardless. the sphinx is p awesome too.

 

[Forte.EXE]

Carnival Hellsteed is the only good creature with Unleash. 5/4 for 4BR, First Strike, Haste, and Unleash. THAT is what all Unleash creatures should have been modeled after.

Oh, and in other news, Jarad's Orders is fucking crazy. Choose any two creatures from your deck, put one in your Graveyard, other to your hand. Jarad's Orders + Grisly Savage gives Golgari (or just B/G) decks a pretty big amount of consistency.

Already have my B/G deck planned out at the moment. I intend on using the one that was recently posted on Wizard's MTG site as an article and then tweaking it for my local meta.

 

[TEA_DEMON]

if you think all unleash creatures should've been modelled after a terrible card then i am not sure what to say.

 

[Draycos7]

Envisioned Frites

Lands
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
4 Blood Crypt
4 Rootbound Crag
3 Steam Vents
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Arbor Elf
3 Griselbrand
2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
3 Thragtusk
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
Other Spells
4 Faithless Looting
4 Unburial Rights
4 Grisly Scavenge
4 Lingering Souls
3 Abrupt Decay
Sideboard
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Dreadbore
2 Restoration Angel
3 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Loxodon Smiter
2 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Stormtide Leviathan
1 Thragtusk

No Jin-Gitaxias? Shame on you. :P

Anyways, I play BU Zombie beat down, and I may post a deck list pretty soon. I'm going to get the Izzet-Golgari duel deck today and slaughter it to appease my other decks, U Control, RG Eldrazi, and Niv-Mizzet EDH.